Along the Gulf Coast are many shallow marsh areas with varying amounts of underwater vegetation. These areas are used for water fowl hunting, fishing and trapping. While trapping is performed by a relatively few, fishing and hunting are enjoyed by a majority of the people in these areas. Most of the Federal Wildlife Reserves and privately owned marshes open for fishing limit the horsepower of boats to typically 25 h.p. Most of the boats used in fishing are factory manufactured outboard motor boats.
An increasing number of homemade aluminum tunnel boats are appearing on the scene in an effort to run in shallower water. These tunnel boats have a section of the bottom tunneled at the rear of the boat that allows the water to rise up in the rear. The motor can then be raised several inches. Forward motion of the boat causes the tunnel to fill with water which then flows out of the rear end, providing water for the propeller. The limit to raising the motor is dictated by the requirement that the water suction of the motor be submerged when the boat is at rest. This gives the tunnel boat an advantage in shallow water.
Notwithstanding the advantages, a tunnel boat is not efficient when pulling a load, such as a shrimp trawl, another boat, etc., where a normal (non-tunneled) boat would be better suited for the job. Additionally, a tunnel boat is relatively inefficient and has a tendency for the bow to rise inordinately high above the water, contributing to instability and increased "porpoising" motion.
There is therefore a need for an outboard motor boat that operates normally in normal-depth water and that can be configured relatively easily to operate in shallow water that is relatively more efficient and stable than a tunnel boat.